Carton unloader



E. D. SRAMEK CARTON UNLOADER Nov. 24, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 12, 1957 E. D. SRAMEK CARTON UNLOADER Nov. 24, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 12, 1957 INVENTOR.

E. D. SRAMEK CARTON UNLOADER Nov. 24, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 12, 1957 INVENTOR;

WM, @OflPt/VM .stack and along their longitudinal axes.

United States Patent O CARTON UNLOADER Elmer D. Sramek, Cicero, Ill., assignor to F. B. Redington Co., Bellwood, 111., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationNovember 12, 1957, Serial No. 695,621

3 Claims. (Cl. 271-32) magazine one atva time and erected so that an article may be inserted therein. Since the cartons most generally have printing or marking on the side walls when in the collapsed form, it is important that the cartons be unloaded from the magazine in such a manner that the side walls of the cartons will not be marked or damaged in any way.

The apparatus for unloading cartons from a magazine accord.ng to the present invention and which may be defined as a carton-unloader, is capable of removing one collapsed carton from a magazine at a time without' marking or damaging the carton-in anyform. This carton-unloader includes suction heads .and .a blade arrangement wherein the cartons are initially supportedby a single blade extending under the center of the carton The suction heads pull downthe opposite sidesiof the carton so that a pair of blades may be inserted at points opposite the center of the cartons to support the entire carton stack. The center blades are-thenremoved to allowthe carton face, wherein the cartonmay beremovedfrom beneath the magazine by a conventional pusher conveyer. .This

arrangement eliminates-subjecting thelowermost carton to any weight regardless of the weight .of the cartons .in the stack, and ithas been heretofore generally considered that the ,stack weight damages or marks some of the lowermost cartons during removal of the cartons from the magazine.

Accordingly, it is an objectof this inventionto provide an improved apparatus forremoving cartonsfrom a magazne.

Another object of this invention resides in the provision of a carton unloader for removing cartons one at a time from a stack of cartons held inamagazine .held by thesuction heads to .dropontoa conveying surwithout marking or damaging the cartons regardless of operating together so that no weight is exerted against the .bottornmost carton whenit is removed from the magazine.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, in which:

I zine.

2,914,323 Patented Nov. 24,1959

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a carton unloader embodying the irvention;

along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan sectional view taken substantially along line 3 -3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the carton unloader of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is ,a vertical sectional view taken through .the carton unloader and substantially along line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are perspectivediagrammatic views illustrating the operation of the carton unloader.

Referring now to the drawings. and especially to Figs. ,1 through 5, the carton unloader of the present invention removes a collapsed carton 10 from a stack of vcollapsed carto-ns 11 held in amagazine 12 and delivers it to a pair of coacting pusher eonveyers 13 arranged below the magazine. The pusher eonveyers advance the collapsed carton to an erecting device (not shown) which erects the carton and deposits it in the pocket of an endless carton conveyer 14, Fig. 1. Whilethe magazine 12 may take any desirable form, for purposes of illustration, the magazine 12, Fig. 2, herein illustrated includes four upstanding angle'bars 15 arranged .to confine a stack of cartons therebetween. When the cartons are removed from the magazine, they will be dropped onto a supporting table 16 arrangedbelow the maga- Any type of transfer apparatus may be employed in place of the coacting eonveyers 13. Each conveyer '13 includes longitudinally spaced sprockets 17'and 18 having trained therearound an endless transmissionmember 13, such as a chain, wherein the chain follows avpath through a horizontal plane. Each chain has mounted thereon apusher member or lug 20 in aligned position to engage the rear or trailing end of each carton advancing alongthe table 16 to the erecting device. The sprocket-s 17 and 18 are mounted on the upper ends ,of vertical shafts 17a and 18a, one of which may be driven on each conveyer. 'The driven shafts of each conveyer will be driven in unison in order to advance the pusher members or lugs 20 together.

The cartons are arranged in the magazine 12 with the open ends facing laterally of the magazineand .unloader so that the cartons may be transferred directly to the erecting device and erected into the carton conveyer 14. The carton unloader generallyincludes a pair of opposed intermediate or middle supporting bladesf 21 and 22, a pair of outer'blades 23 and 24 on one side of the middle'blades, a pair of outer blades ,25 andv 26 on the other side of the middle blades, and a .pair .of transversely spaced suction cups or heads 27 and 28. The coacting middle blades 21 and 22 are arranged to underlie the front and back edges of the lowermost carton and along the longitudinal centerof the carton .aslit is arranged in the magazine during a predeterminedpart of the cycle of operationfo-r supporting the entire .carton stack 11.

The middle blades 21 and 22 are. secured to the lower ends of downwardly extending arms 29 and 30 of horizontally extending links 31 and 32, respectively. The link 31 is supported from cross shafts 33 and 34 by upwardly extending parallel links 35 and 36. Thelinks 35 and 36 are pivotally secured at spaced points to the link 31 at one end and carried'by theshafts .33 and 34 at the other end. The link 35 is bearingly supported at its upper end to the cross shaft 33, while the link 36 is secured at its upper end to the cross shaft 34, wherein the cross shaft 34 is in turn secured to an operating lever 37, the outer free end of which is pivotally connected to the reciprocably driven link 38. Similarly, the link 32 of the blade 22 is suspended from cross shafts 39and 40 by means of parallel links 41 and-42. The link 42 is similarly bearingly supported at its upper end on the cross shaft 40 while the link 41 is secured at its upper end to the cross shaft 39. An operating lever 43 is also connected to the cross shaft 30 and has pivotally connected at its outer end a reciprocably driven link 44. The reciprocably driven links 38 and 44 may be operated by any suitable reciprocating drive means, such as an eccentric or cam arrangement, and these links will be operated synchronously to effect simultaneous inward or outward movement of the middle blades 21 and 22 relative to the carton stack 11. Due to the parallelogram linkage arrangements for supporting the blades 21 and 22, the blades will travel through an arcuate path, and

and 22 inwardly whereby they support the entire stack of cartons by engaging the lowermost carton.

The suction cups 28 move upwardly into position to grip the opposite sides of the lowermost carton 10 as seen in Figs. 2 and 7 and then move downwardly to bend the lowermost carton about the coacting opposite middle blades 21 and 22 as seen in Fig. 7. The suction cups are mounted on arms 45 and 46 which in turn are rotatably carried on longitudinally extending driven shafts 47 and 48. Thus, the suction cups rotate about a horizontal axis. Each arm as seen in Figs. 2 and 5 and with particular reference to the arm 46 includes a downwardly extending portion 49 carried by the shaft 48, a longitudinally extending portion 50 at right angles to the portion 49, an outwardly extending portion 51 at right angles to the portion 50 and the portion 49 andv a stubby inclined portion 52 at the outer end of the portion 51 which mounts directly the suction cup 27 thereon. The arm 47 is identical to the arm 46 the exception being that the portion extending from the longitudinal extending portion is facing in the opposite direction. As the suction cups 27 and 28 grip the outer portions of the lowermost carton and swing downwardly, the outermost portions of the carton are spaced from the next above carton at the opposite ends thereof.

The outer blades 23, 24, and 25, 26, then move inwardly from opposite sides of the carton to the space defined between the lowermost carton and the next above carton as seen in Fig. 8. Simultaneously, the middle blades 21 and 22 move outwardly but it is to be understood that there will be an overlap between the middle and outer blades so that at all times the carton will be supported by either the middle blades or the outer blades. Inasmuch as the outer blades 25 and 26 are mounted. in

the same manner as the outer blades 23 and 24, for purposes of clarity, only the mounting of the outer blades 25 and 26 will be described.

The mounting of the outer blades 25 and 26 is similar to the middle blades 21 and 22, wherein the blades are secured to the lower ends of arms 53 and 54 of horizontal links 55 and 56. The link 56 is suspended like the link 31 of the middle blade 21 from the cross shafts 33 and 34 by parallel links 57 and 58. The links 57 and 58 are pivotally secured at the lower ends to spaced points along the horizontal link 55. The upper end of means of the link 56 from the cross shafts 39 and 40 by means of parallel links 61 and 62. The links 61 are bearingly supported on the cross shaft 39, while the links 62 are secured to the cross shaft 40 which also has secured thereto an actuating lever 63. The reciprocably driven link 65 is pivotally connected to the outer end of the lever 63 whereby actuation of this link effects operation of the outer blades 24 and 26. The reciprocating links 60 and 65 will also be driven by a suitable reciprocating drive means as the reciprocating links 38 and the links 60 and 65 will be driven in synchronism to effect inward movement of the outer blades 23, 24, 25, and 26, together when the inner blades 21 and 22 are being moved outwardly and after the suction cups 27and 28 have pulled down the outer end portions of the carton. When the outer blades, 23, 24, 25, and 26 move inwardly, due to the parallelogram linkage arrangement supporting these blades, they will substantially remove the weight of the stack of cartons from the lowermost carton, wherein the parts will take the position as seen in Fig. 8. After the outer blades have moved inwardly and the inner blades have moved outwardly, the lowermost carton will drop onto the supporting surface 16 and the vacuum in the suction cups 27 and 28 may be released. From the horizontal table 16, the lugs 20 on the conveyer 13 will engage the trailing edge ofthe carton and advance it along the table 16 and to the erecting device (not shown) so that the carton may be erected' and in- 'serted into the carton conveyer 14. Fig. 10 shows the lug pushers 20 of the conveyers 13 in engagement with the trailing edge of the lowermost carton which has been removed from the carton stack 11. The cycle of operation of the blades and suction cups will be repeated again and again with the result of removing the successive bottommost cartons from the magazine.'

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the carton unloader unloads the cartons one at a time from the magazine without subjecting the bottommost carton to the entire weight of the magazine when the bottommost carton is withdrawntherefrom thereby eliminating marking or damaging of the cartons as they are removed from the magazine. 7

It will be understood that modifications and variaations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention, but it is understood that this application is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows.

1. A carton unloader fora packaging machine adapted to remove the successive bottommost cartons from a stack of cartons in a magazine which comprises, a first pair of opposed coacting supporting blades for supporting the stack centrally along the longitudinal axis thereof, means for reciprocating said blades into and out of engagement with the bottommost carton, a pair of suction members adapted to grip the end portions of the bottommost carton and pull the end portions downwardlyto how the cartons about the first pair of blades thereby defining void spaces between the next bottommost carton and the bottommost carton, second and third pairs of opposed coacting supporting blades adapted to be inserted in said void spaces and to engage the next bottommost carton for supporting the carton stack above the bottommost carton, means for reciprocating said second and third pairs of blades into and out of engagement with the cartons, and

means to operate the first blades, suction members, second blades and third blades in timed sequential relation, whereby the secondand third blades are moved into engagement with the carton stack for supporting same when the first blades are being withdrawn.

2. A carton unloader for apackaging machine adapted to remove the successive bottommost cartons from a stack of cartons in a magazine which comprises, a first pair of opposed coacting supporting blades for supporting the stack centrally along the longitudinal axis thereof, means for reciprocating said blades into and out of engagement with the bottommost carton, a pair of suction members adapted to grip the end portions of the bottommost carton and pull the end portions downwardly to bow the cartons about the first pair of blades thereby defining void spaces between the next bottommost carton and the bottommost carton, second and third pairs of opposed coacting supporting blades adapted to be inserted in said void spaces and to engage the next bottommost carton for supporting the carton stack above the bottommost carton, means for reciprocating said second and third pairs of blades into and out of engagement with the cartons, and means for withdrawing said first coacting blades and inserting said second and third coacting blades into the void spaces in timed relation so that the bottommost carton is free to drop upon complete withdrawal of said first coacting blades and the second and third coacting blades will be supporting the carton stack.

3. A carton unloader for a packaging machine adapted to remove the successive bottommost cartons from a stack of cartons in a magazine which comprises, a first pair of opposed coacting supporting blades for supporting the stack centrally along the longitudinal axis thereof, first parallelogram linkage for supporting said blades, means for operating said linkage to oscillate said blades into and out of engagement with the bottommost carton in the magazine, a pair of suction members adapted to grip the end portionsof the bottommost carton and pull the end portions downwardly to bow the cartons about the first pair of blades thereby defining void spaces between the next bottommost carton and the bottommost carton, second and third pairs of opposed coacting supporting blades adapted to be inserted in said void spaces and to engage the next bottommost carton for supporting the stack above the bottommost carton, second and third parallelogram linkages for supporting said second and third pairs of blades, means for operating said second and third parallelogram linkages to oscillate the second and third pairs of blades into and out of engagement with the next bottommost oar ton and common means to drive said linkage operating means for the first, second and third pairs of blades, and said suction members in timed sequential relation, whereby the second and third blades are moved into engagementwith the next bottommost carton for supporting the carton stack when the first blades are being withdrawn from engagement with the bottommost carton, and said first blades are withdrawn to permit release of the bottommost carton and then moved into engagement with the next bottommost cartonfor supporting the carton stack when the second and third blades are being withdrawn from engagement therewith, said parallelogram linkages. being arranged when causing the respective blades to move into engagement with and support the carton stack to lift the stack from the other blades.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 855,715 Malocsay June 4, 1907 995,018 Kent June 13, 1911 1,186,278 Calleson June 6, 1916 

